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Badal lays stone of Admn Complex
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal lays the foundation stone of District Administrative Complex in Amritsar on Sunday.
Photo: Vishal Kumar
ESI Hospital has no funds to buy LPG cylinders
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Crime Scene
Safma
Conference
Passion for historical facts
NS Gabarhia, a retired deputy station superintendent, shows his collection of historical pages. Photo: Sameer Sehgal
Vehicles with illegal LPG kits go unchecked on city roads
‘Cataract is main cause of blindness’
Demand for power connection goes up in residential sector
Identifying martyrs of Jallianwala Bagh massacre
Man robbed of Rs 30,000
Institute owner arrested for forgery
Mobile phone seized from jail inmate
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Badal lays stone of Admn Complex
Amritsar, January 6 He said the state government had approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court for setting up of fast track courts to deal with cases of crime against women and NRIs. The courts would be made functional instantly after getting approval for the high court, he said. Badal also advocated harsher punishment for rapists. He demanded more powers for states from the Centre. "The trade between India and Pakistan can boost the state's economy, but we do not have the powers to take decisions," he said adding that state government has taken up the matter of bilateral trade with Pakistan with the Union Government repeatedly. Talking about the administrative complex, he said it would house all civil and police administrative offices. He said the complex would ease things for the general public as all works would be done under one roof and they would not have to go to different places. He said the upcoming building would have a beautiful structure with a traditional look. Besides the Deputy Commissioner's office it would also house the revenue office, town planning office, employment office, public relation office, local bodies, excise and taxation, dairy development, zila parishad, labour office, transport office, social welfare, animal husbandry and panchayat office. It would also have offices of Commissioner of Police and SSP of Amritsar rural police. Cabinet Minister Anil Joshi, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Inderbir Singh Bularia and Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal were also present on the occasion. The project
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ESI Hospital has no funds to buy LPG cylinders
Amritsar, January 6 In this situation, patients had to either buy food or have to depend on relatives to bring food for them every day. A patient at the male ward of the hospital said, “I was admitted here two months back. But I have not got a meal on a single day.” He said they have to buy food from the market which besides being costly is not good for patients. Another patient said ESI Hospitals had a policy of supplying food to patients, but the local unit had failed to do it. Dr Jagjeet Singh Cheema, Medical Superintendent, ESI Hospital, said, “We are facing the problem since the treasury, which releases money, has started asking for bills before the purchase.” As the rates of unsubsidised LPG cylinders are subject to market variations, the problem had arisen with the start of current financial year in April. “While the treasury wants bills before we buy the gas. As we are inefficient to buy LPG cylinders because of want of money, the gas agencies have expressed their inefficiency to supply the same before the purchase is made,” said Cheema. He said the matter was explained during a meeting with the treasury officials. The bills for other materials for the kitchen are also stuck in the treasury, he said. Dr Cheema said after the meeting, they are hopeful that treasury would find a way out and the kitchen would start again. Patients suffer
Patients had to either buy food or have to depend on relatives to bring food for them every day.
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‘Media can play vital role in eradicating terrorism’
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, January 6 Speakers said the mediapersons, being journalists, have more responsibility in solving inter-state and intra-state conflicts. It was discussed that the journalists understand the causes of the terrorism better than the common citizens; therefore their role becomes more significant. SAFMA India president Vinod Sharma said rising intolerance is one of the prominent causes of rising terrorism and violence in the society. He said there is a need to channelise the energy of youth for a greater good of the mankind. He said education should not be only seen as a source eradication of illiteracy but as a mode of inculcating moral and ethical values among the citizens. The speakers pointed out that the state alone cannot solve the problem of terrorism and the public would have to come forward openly against the violence and extremism. The session concluded that the journalists of the affected countries have to move away from “war journalism to peace journalism”. The need for strengthening social, economic, political, cultural rights through media publications was also stressed by the speakers. In the third session, the speakers admitted that the violent activities of extremist groups in Pakistan and India have damaging impacts on their bilateral relations. It was discussed that all governments should adopt categorical policies to eliminate extremism and terrorism within their territories. The governments need to ensure that genuinely democratic and participatory systems flourish. The speakers discussed that each state must ensure that the extremist and violent groups do not create their domains of authority at the expense of the state system because such groups have a tendency to terrorise people, deprive them of their properties, extort money and kill. They create a reign of terror and fear which the state must remove altogether. Singer Lakhwinder Wadali enthralled the audience at the conference.
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From the pages of NS Gabarhia’s diary
Neha Saini Tribune News Service
Amritsar, January 6 A lifetime member of the Motilal Nehru Library in the city, Gabarhia has made an effort every time to research and collect these choicest historical facts and pictures. From the shortest possible election speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln to Winston Churchill’s views shared in the House of Common’s on Indian Independence, John F Kennedy’s letters to his wife, Sanjay Gandhi’s 20-point and Zia-ul-Haq’s speech, Gabarhia has each preserved as an antique. “I began writing and reading the famous when I was quite young, around 1972. I was really impressed and inspired by the writings and views of Dr S Radhakrishnan, who never repeated a word and had an impeccable literary grasp. His writings increased my interest in reading and knowing about the famous political figures of the world,” says Gabarhia. With a memory as sharp as a knife, he can recite the speech by any of the noted political figures mentioned above without an error. His collection includes pictures of the 1965 Indo-China war, post death pictures of Pratap Singh Kairon, John F Kennedy meeting with Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, profiles of the US presidents in the late 60s and 70s, religious writings by Guru Gobind Singh and even telephonic conversations and casual quotes from Indian political figures. “I have a copy of the letter written by Bhagat Singh to his younger brother Kultar Singh while he was in prison and also letters written by Lyndon N Johnson to Jackie Kennedy after succeeding John F Kennedy. I had once written a letter to filmmaker BR Chopra after watching his film Dhund and he had sent his acknowledgement as well. There are so many such historical writings in my collection, but I treat them as a priceless possession rather than gloat about them,” he shares. Seeking his motivation from Guru Gobind Singh’s Zafarnama, Gabarhia confesses his passion for exquisite writing, “Anything that is written exquisitely and has a history to it catches my interest. A lot of these historical quotes or predictions made by famous men have turned out to be true. Like Winston Churchill said in his speech in the House of Common’s prior to Indian Independence that India, if granted freedom, will be lost in political squabble. Isn’t that what’s happening today?” So, while the famous are busy making history, Gabarhia is busy preserving it, in his diary and memory. Huge Collection
From the shortest possible election speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln to Winston Churchill’s views shared in the House of Common’s on Indian Independence, John F Kennedy’s letters to his wife, Sanjay Gandhi’s 20-point and Zia-ul-Haq’s speech, Gabarhia has each preserved as an antique
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Vehicles with illegal LPG kits go unchecked on city roads
The administration should take steps to check the use of cylinders which do not fulfill the specifications of a fixed fuel tank as per the provisions of the order in this regard. A lot of vehicles, mostly commercial, plying on city roads have tampered engines with makeshift LPG kits. The van which blasted yesterday was being run commercially, to ferry passengers on the airport route. In what may be termed as a serious case of carelessness on the part of the authorities, not many unauthorised LPG-run vehicles have been impounded. Officials of the Public Vehicles Department admitted to being aware of the rampant use of illegal LPG kits, which apparently cost 50 per cent less than the approved ones. “Most illegal kits come from Delhi and are sold here between Rs 3,000- Rs 11,000 each. A kit approved by the Automotive Research Association of India costs around Rs 24,000,” an official said. Owners of auto-repair workshops said more than a dozen car-owners converted their cars from petrol to LPG everyday in Amritsar district, which is a matter of serious concern. Another sparking point is that more and more domestic gas cylinders are being used to run vehicles as opposed to commercial ones. The reason is the price of cooking gas, which is lesser than that of commercial LPG. “The mileage of a Maruti car running on petrol is between 14-16 km per litre and the cost of run comes to around Rs 5 per km whereas an LPG cylinder costing Rs 460 lasts for about 225 km, which brings the per km cost to only Rs 2,” said
Sushil, a mechanic. Unmindful of repercussions
A number of car manufacturers offer vehicles fitted with LPG-kits after furnishing rigorous R&D (research and development) and these vehicles are sold after they comply with all safety norms. These vehicles cost more than the regular models. People tend to change their vechicle’s engine transmission with LPG kits offered by local manufacturers after getting allured by low-running cost, little realising that they could be inviting trouble. What do the norms say?
A proforma 20 of the Motor Vehicles Act is mandatory to fill which has to be endorsed by the motor vehicle inspector
(MVI) to ensure that the LPG kit fitted in the vehicle complies to the safety regulations. On the basis of this report, the state transport department enters its specification on the registration book and in its records, too. According to Section 115-C (3) of the MVI Act, a number of tests, including mass emission test, engine performance test and constant speed fuel consumption test, have to be conducted by the testing agency before issuing a certification which has to be renewed after every three years.
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‘Cataract is main cause of blindness’
Amritsar, January 6 As many as 35 ophthalmologists from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir attended the conference, which exhibited a live surgery in three-dimensional display using advanced phaco equipment by Dr Rohit Omparkash. Dr Rohit Omparkash said as many as 3.8 million people in India suffer from blindness due to cataract annually, whereas the disease can be corrected with a surgery. He stressed that cataract is the cause of more than 50 per cent of all the visually challenged in the world. At the workshop, eye specialists had a chance to see advanced technique of phaco emulsification in 3-D wherein the learner was able to watch the finer points of a surgery as opposed to earlier single dimensional view techniques. Specialists were also given an opportunity of ‘Wet-Lab’ in which a mock surgery is performed on an artificial eye for the learning purpose. Dr Rohit stated that the workshop was primarily focused at new specialists in ophthalmology for better learning skills and helping them to prevent many from losing their vision. He further stated that other than age factor that causes the onset of cataract in senior population, it can be aggravated by cigarette smoke, air pollution, and heavy alcohol consumption.
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Demand for power connection goes up in residential sector
As many as 20,083 connections have been issued by October in 2012-2013. Sudeep Singh Sandhu, PSPCL, chief engineer (Border Range), attributed the surge in demand for power connections in the residential sector to a combination of reasons. He said apart from spurt in construction of residential units, the department has been able to check illegal connections, commonly known as kundi connections. PSPCL officials anticipated that the number of power connections would surpass the previous fiscal year’s figures. Narinder Singh, an applicant for a new domestic power connection on Fatehgarh Churiyan road, said he applied for a new connection about a month back, but because of shortage of meters, as told by PSPCL officials, he is still waiting for a new meter. He said the PSPCL officials told him that they were waiting for a fresh supply of meters. A real estate agent Harpinder Singh Walia a number of residential localities are coming up on the Ajnala road, Loharka road, Fatehgarh Churriyan road besides Amrisar-Jalandhar GT Road. All these roads have seen arrival of a number of townships in the past some years.
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Identifying martyrs of Jallianwala Bagh massacre Tribune News Service
Amritsar, January 6 The samittee had taken up the issue with Principal Secretary Sarvesh Kaushal, who visited the city in October last and met the freedom fighters to know their grievances. The samittee, headed by its president Bhushan Behl, has said though the Union Government granted the status of freedom fighters to their forefathers, they have not got any facilities accorded to the kin of freedom fighters. There was confusion over the number of martyrs who laid down their lives on the fateful day in 1919. There were three lists — one prepared by the British government in 1921, second by the Jallianwala Bagh Trust and third by the Jallianwala Bagh Samittee. Now the government has decided to initiate a process to identify the martyrs and trace their descendents. The samittee in a meeting said it would put an end to the prevailing confusion and would help give dues to the families of the martyrs.
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Man robbed of Rs 30,000
Amritsar, January 6 Sushil alleged he was coming from the Batala side via Thariyewal on his motorcycle when the two unidentified youths intercepted him near Shamnagar village. He said the accused threatened to shoot him if he did not stop his vehicle. He said as soon as he stopped his motorcycle, the accused frisked him and took out Rs 30,000 from his pockets. They also decamped with his motorcycle (PB-02-BP-7010). The police authorities said the manhunt had been launched to identify the accused who have been on the run.
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Institute owner arrested for forgery
Amritsar, January 6 Claming that the institute has associations with different universities, Guramritpal allegedly used to issue fake certificates of these universities to students. The police registered a case under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC against two persons following a tip-off. Besides Guramritpal, the police has booked Harjot Singh of Fatehgarh Churian. Shiv Nath, the investigating officer, said Guramritpal was arrested today while Harjot was still at large. He said further investigations were under progress to unearth the modus operandi of the accused involved in the crime.
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Mobile phone seized from jail inmate
Amritsar, January 6 A case under Sections 420 of the IPC and 42 of the Prisoner Act has been registered against Ravi Kumar, a resident of Gali No 3, Navi Abadi, Faizpura, in this regard. The Jail Superintendent, who has lodged a complaint with the Cantonment police station, said, “During search, we recovered an activated mobile phone bearing IMEI no 355509041921942 with SIM card.” Investigating officer Prabhjot Singh of the Gumtala police post said, “We are trying to trace the call details of the mobile phone.”
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Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal laid the foundation stone of the District Administrative Complex (DAC) here today. The DAC would be built at a cost of Rs 75
crore.
A man who believes in the unknown being better than spotlight, NS Gabarhia, a retired deputy station superintendent from Amritsar finds his passion in well-preserved pages of history books. Taking inspiration, following the glorious past and re-living those important moments of history, Gabarhia is not only proud but has formed a connection with his bulk of history, a large collection of memorabilia containing pictures, writings and notes sequencing from the late 1930s to the new millennia.
Amritsar, January 6
Amritsar, January 6